Agent of Reincarnation: Speed Zone
by Mr. Osborne
Summary: A short story, continuing over a month after "Agent."


Agent of Reincarnation: Speed Zone

  


An ordinary two-land highway on a cloudy spring day. A silver Subaru WRX was moving at high speeds, its driver upshifting and downshifting as the car entered and left various curves, turbo-charged boxer engine singing its sweet music. Not far behind them, three unmarked sedans were following. The WRX was still gaining ground, the driver highly skilled. She was wearing a headset with a heads-up display, showing a map. She was also monitoring her pursuers' commnications.

"Unit one, Unit three. Units three, five and eight still in pursuit of silver Subaru sedan. Over"

"Unit three, Unit one. Copy Unit three, maintiain pursuit, road block has been established, five miles south of Junction M-29 and 109. Over"

"Unit one, Unit three. Be advised, Subaru is gaining speed, we are losing them, over."

"Unit three, Unit one. Copy Unit three, repeat, road has been established. Units one and four are standing by. Over."

"Acknowledged Unit one. Maintaining Pursuit. Over."

"Unit One." Came the reply. A woman in her forties, dressed as a State Police officer, was standing near the driver's side door of a late model Ford Sedan, dressed up to appear as a State Police unit. In actuality, the Subaru's pursuers were not police officers.

There has been a hidden war going on for the past few months. All of the Agents were safely in hiding, but, they were still being pursued. Their enemy, known only as Victor, wanted the cloning and memory technology that the Agents developed. With the new legislature coming into effect all over the world, and with the realization that the world was becoming a far better place, it was decided that the Agents of Reincarnation would end. Their recruiting program already ended last year, Lucy Knight was the last of the Agents, and perhaps the best of them all. Over the next fifty years, their technology would be released to the world, a piece at a time. Their presence would also be made known over that time period. Cloning was no longer the answer.

Victor thought otherwise. With the problems in the Middle East, and the threat of another Cold War with China, they thought that they needed to fight a fight for the people that doesn't really exist. With cloning and memory technology, it could give anyone an edge in planting spies in foreign countries, or worse, create a race of "perfect" solders. The Agents knew what the dangers were long ago. With the exception of physical repairs to the body, and the implantation of memory, there were no modifications made to enhance intelligence or strength. With exercise and proper diet, the Agents were as strong as anyone, and could live a long life. There was nothing they did that couldn't be accomplished by conventional means today.

That threat is what has led Lucy, and her passenger, onto a quiet country road, putting a brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX through its paces. There was little difference between a factory WRX and its race-prepped cousin. The car and driver were taking turns at speeds that would have made lesser cars skid off the road. Their pursuers, in older Ford Interceptors, Crown Victoria sedans with police packages, were barely able to keep up, their weight being a disadvantage on the twisty road.

Lucy already knew about the road block, and spotted another road just before it, one which would allow them to escape, and leave their pursuers in the dust, literally. The timing was critical, as the road, a fire access road, was just yards away from the road block.

Neither Lucy or her passenger, one of their scientists, said a word since the chase began. They both kept their cool, though the scientist was bracing herself against the dashboard, her face pale. 

She, Sarah Cargo, knew Lucy well and trusted her with her own life. Born in College Grove, Tennessee, she came to love biology, which eventually led to genetic engineering. 

Sarah towered over Lucy, at nearly five foot nine inches, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Her love of science was only matched by her compassion and understanding for things unusual. The Agents approached her, offering her the opportunity to help dismantle their human cloning technology and research new ways to apply it. Barely a month later, the war had broken out with Victor, and things got hectic. Fortunately, Sarah's family was perfectly safe; Victor not knowing her true identity and her family made fully aware of the danger. But, she had to keep moving around until either the war ended or made public. 

Just over the rise of a small hill came the road block, they both saw the roadblock; two fake police cruisers waiting for them. Lucy downshifted into 3rd, then 2nd, using engine braking to slow them down. Then, she slammed on her brakes, the ABS system safely slowing them down without locking the wheels. Just a few yards away from the cruisers, Lucy pulled on her e-brake and flipped the wheel to the left, locking the rear wheels and sending the car into a 180-degree turn. Releasing the brake, she quickly put the car back in gear and went flying onto the dirt road. 

The pursuing Ford Interceptors were just seconds behind, and slammed on their brakes. Going too fast, one of the cars locked its front wheels, sending it careening into the two units, colliding with the front left side of one and shearing off a piece of the front bumper of the other. The two remaing cars managed to slow down, one making the turn onto the dirt road, the other making a 180-degree turn, almost ending up in a ditch.

As the WRX approached the first turn, Lucy laid into the throttle, sliding the car through the turn like a WRC rally car, then another, keeping the engine above 3000 RPM and gaining speed through the all-wheel-drive system. The two remaining cars spun around the two turns, losing speed because of the lack of traction.

Moving along a short section of bumpy road, Lucy restricted her speed, avoiding any major bumps that could bend or break a piece of their car. The Interceptors, caring only to keep up with the Subaru, fly over some of the bumps, the rear end of one car bouncing into the air.

Approaching yet another turn, Lucy slid around, bringing the engine past 5000 RPM, nearing its redline of 7000 RPM, the whine of the turbo increasing in pitch before upshifting, accelerating past forty miles an hour. She slowed down again, downshifting and tackling another turn, with the intensity of a professional Rally driver, the engine building in power and speed once again. Upshifting again, they enter another stretch of road. Lucy poured on the power, accelerating past sixty, seventy, eighty. Subaru's all-wheel-drive worked flawlessly, the traction keeping the car on the narrow road as the RPMs climbed.

One of the Interceptors spun out, careening into a tree, wrecking the left-rear quarter panel and bending a wheel. The other Interceptor kept losing speed, the turns slowing the car down too much.

According to the computer-driven map, she was nearing M-129. A short run down a hill, she slowed long enough to see that there was no traffic as she turned onto the highway, resuming their way to the safehouse, and then to an airport, where Sarah would go home.

Sarah let out a breath, relaxing finally as Lucy settled into normal highway speeds. Taking another glance in the mirrors, her pursuers were long gone.


End file.
